I got an email today that was more unique than my average piercing question--and I'll admit: this one isn't covered in my book. :

dear elayne:
i'm really interested in sewing my lips shut (ok i admit it, i'm a "freak") and i'm wondering what your opinion on what the best materials for doing this would be, and the best places to buy them. would a simple sewing needle and cotton thread really be my best bet? or a hollow needle and some tygon? thank you so much!!!
L

Hi L,
Thanks for your email.
My reply:
I need a little more information about what you want to achieve. How long would you plan to leave it in? What do you have in mind? Would it be for a photo shoot, or ...? Will there be anyone else involved to help, or do you want to do it yourself?
I don't think an ordinary needle and thread would be appropriate, regardless of your aims. You definitely need to use something that has been sterilized. And I'm not sure if you're talking about your lips on your face, or your labia?
Please provide me with more information, and I'll see what I can come up with for you.
Thanks, Elayne

I heard the "author" gets paid per view and she doesn't deserve a penny for what she wrote!
I found this piece (of sh*t) online that was supposed to be an informative article about genital piercings. I can't believe just anybody can write an article about genital piercings and toss out so much off-base (absolutely dead-wrong) information. This one doesn't even come close! I'm so irritated! (I pulled the link from this article so I don't send it any traffic.)

My editor told me that The Piercing Bible inventory has arrived at the warehouse, and that she'd send me a copy this week. I am so excited!! I can't wait to see the finished product. She also had me notify my contacts who are planning to review the book that they were going to be shipped out shortly. Entering this next phase is so thrilling!
Oh, and I got so excited this weekend when I was searching for something about piercing when I ran into my very own words on Google Books. The Piercing Bible is on there (well, about 30% of the book). Check it out!
Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and comments.

If you've read much of what I've written about piercing, chances are you've run into some mention of emu oil. I think it is fantastic for healing everything, including body piercings (whether new and healing, in the process of stretching, or having a flare up).
I got a fantastic email today from a woman who used it to heal her son's burns:

Elayne!
I hope things are going superbly down in the Yucatan with your honey. I have to tell you, We miss you!!!! that would be the entire piercing community in the united states. I still wish I had been able to come down to NOLA before you closed and have the honor of having you do my triangle. Thanks to your recommedations, I flew out to Inifinite in Philly and had the esteemed Kevin Jump perform it for me. Its stretched to a 4 gauge and honestly I don't even wear my VCH anymore (although I could and have) because I love my triangle so much! I got the chance to spend the day with Jen and she is just a love! We shared the miseries of the east coast attitude. LOL
Anyways, the reason why I am writing to you is different. Not piercing related persay, but related to you. Back in the day when I was working on piercings and healing I practically absorbed everything you wrote. Including the information about emu oil. I followed every link, I read every article. and thankfully, I did!
This past fall, my son was being a stupid teenager. and to make a fairly long story short, he ended up being burned on all four extremities from a spray paint can exploding. The paint was on fire and it stuck to anywhere he had bare skin. He was burned over 30% of his body. He was lifeflighted to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and lodged in the pediatric burn ICU. Thankfully he didn't need skin grafts but it was a long agonizing painful process.

I received an email through my old Rings of Desire website because this page about female genital piercings still gets a HUGE amount of traffic:

I noticed you don't list the Isabella piercing. Is it because they are too rare? I had one when I was younger and I've got some nerve damage now. Even if you don't have a picture, I think it would be great to provide the info for it and inform people of the damages it can cause. Your site is very helpful. Thank you!

My response: Hi there, Thanks so much for your comments. I'm so sorry to hear you have a bad piercing result. I'd be very interested in learning more about your piercing: who did it, how long did you have it, details about your loss of sensation, etc. I closed my studio Rings of Desire (in New Orleans) after Hurricane Katrina. I moved to the Yucatan and I've written a book: The Piercing Bible. I left my old site up because it still contains good information, but I've applied myself to making the book complete and launching the new blog and website for it. My book contains a warning against Isabella (and other) piercings in the section that begins:

Neil Steinberg, the author of the article mentioned below, told me he might wait until closer to the book's publication date (in May) to run the piece that included my interview. But, it ran today. Here is the link to the article in the Chicago Sun Times. He got most of it right, but made it sound as though I'd done 40,000 genital piercings (rather than piercings overall, which I meant). He also said it would be published "next month" but it won't be on the shelves until May. But you can still pre-order it at a dicount here on Amazon.com.

Yesterday I received a phone call from Neil Steinberg, a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. He is planning to do an article about the popularity of female genital piercings. Apparently, he'd been in touch with the woman from the media relations office of Loyola Health Systems (see my previous post).
When I told him that I was not only the Medical Liaison for the Association of Professional Piercers, but also the woman who literally "wrote the book" on body piercing, he said maybe he'd hold the story until my formal book release in May. That would be great! I'll be keeping an eye on the Sun Times to see whether he does that or not.
I always get a kick out of the way people respond when I tell them how many clients get genital piercings from the demographic of older, more "conservative" individuals who do not have any other body art!

I written you before on the topic of aftercare products, and the use of pierced ear antiseptic and am proud to say the studio I work in now carries Satin! Anyway the purpose of this email is to address piercing lactating nipples. Over the weekend I had a very nice young lady request to have her nipples pierced, as we began the "paperwork" she informed me she was no longer breastfeeding but was still lactating. I have never encountered this before, so I phoned some of my fellow piercers with a few more years under their belts, and asked some information. As it turns out this young lady was already at one of our studios on the other side of town and was told no. The other piercers and I all agreed, because we do not fully know what complications could arise that we would not do it. I told the young lady this, and explained why I wasn't comfortable preforming the procedure. I also explained that there could be a potential for mastitis, and suggested she speak with her doctor, or other piercing friendly medical staff. She promptly left in search of another piercer that would do the piercing for her. With all your years of experience, have you ever encountered this before? I've had little to no luck finding information on the Internet and wondered if you could shed some light on this. Thank you for your time, Myke The Piercing Lounge, Madison, WI www.piercingmadison.com

I told Myke that he was correct in declining to pierce someone who is actively lactating and directed him to this information from my book, with info on this point at the very bottom: